Frequently Asked Questions
ORDER ISSUES
Please contact us at [email protected] as soon as possible noting your order number and the date that you placed your order. We'll get back to you as soon as possible with next steps.
We ask all our customers to follow a simple SDS protocol with the product in question so we can check that the antibody has been received in perfect condition. If something is wrong with the results we will work with you to plan next steps including issuing a replacement or refund.
If you decide that you'd prefer a refund we will include the shipping cost as well. Importation charges will need to be borne by the customer.
- Find our latest W-8BEN-E form here
- We don't have a D&B number
- Our tax ID is GB354545489
- NAICs code: 325414
- We are not a minority supplier
- We are a small business
- We are a woman-owned business
PRODUCT & STOCK
As much as possible all our products are stocked in the USA and UK. However a small number of products (particularly products that have recently been released) may not be stocked at the time you place your order. We will endeavour to keep you fully updated on delivery times.
RETURNS & EXCHANGES
Please see our Terms & Conditions for more information.
Refunds will be issued per our Terms & Conditions.
PRODUCT QUESTIONS
The price differences are dependent on three factors:
- Bio X Cell has price levels dependent on if you're working for industry or academia.
- Their pricing for their ultra-low endotoxin products is more than their low endotoxin products.
- Their best sellers are more than their standard products.
So depending on where you work and what product you're looking at the difference in our prices could be much more than 30%! Please click here for a full comparison between ichorbio and Bio X Cell.
The usual price caveats apply such as Bio X Cell may change their pricing at any given time / offer limited time promotions. But as much as possible we do try to keep our comparison webpage up to date. If you're still unsure just ask Bio X Cell & ichorbio for a quote when you're ready to order so you can compare side by side.
Ichorbio manufactures two formats for in vivo use: low endotoxin and ultra-low endotoxin. The ultra-low format has higher purity, lower endotoxin, lower aggregation and is tested for pathogens related to the animals they will be used in.
ichorbio is committed to reducing our environmental impact and so no longer include our datasheets and MSDSes in our shipments. Our datasheets can be directly downloaded from our website; please contact [email protected] to receive a MSDS for any of our products.
For shipments within the USA we ship our products in sustainable cotton mailers and with biodegradable ice packs. International shipments are sent in insulated cardboard boxes with biodegradable ice packs.
Please always follow the storage information listed on our datasheets. Our products are guaranteed for a year only if they are stored at the correct temperature.
Our antibodies are guaranteed for a year, but if they are stored at the correct temperature they should last for a lot longer than that, seeing a very low reduction in efficacy over time.
Environmental conditions such as temperature variations, freezing/thawing, shaking during transport, and long-term storage might lead the appearance of a precipitate or floccule in the antibody solution. This is not uncommon. The floccule is typically buffer salts precipitating out of solution or a small bit of protein aggregation. If gentle, repeated inversion of the vial should remove the precipitate. If not, we recommend removing the floccule by either filtration or centrifugation.
For filtration we recommend using a sterile 0.2 μM luer lock syringe filter. For centrifugation we would recommend transferring the antibody solution to a sterile centrifuge tube (do not centrifuge in the provided cryo vial) and centrifuging at 10k rpm for 5 minutes. We would suggest filtration over centrifugation since centrifuging may allow the sample to warm up for a longer period than filtration, which can be done very quickly. Regardless of what method is chosen you should use sterile filters, syringes, tubes, etc. and work in a biological safety cabinet to ensure that the solution remains sterile.
Rest assured that the precipitate can be removed with these methods without significant protein loss. If you are concerned about loss after centrifugation or filtration you can check the protein concentration after centrifugation or filtration and compare it to the concentration on the supplied CoA.
Sterile 1x PBS matching the exact pH of the antibody formulation can be used. It is important to match the pH of the dilution buffer to the antibody solution to avoid aggregation.
When diluting we recommend using cold buffer and maintaining sterility by working in a biological safety cabinet and using sterile pipet tips, tubes, syringes, and buffers.
Diluting antibodies to working concentrations and storing at 4°C for more than a day should be avoided.